Events on Thursday, June 12

Special Event: Benefit

Headlands Benefit Auction

Thursday 6/12 @ Herbst Pavilion, Fort Mason Center

Housed at Fort Barry's scenic coastal location since the '80s, the Headlands Center for the Arts nurtures emerging and veteran artists... 

Mammatus w/ Sleepy Sun and Lumerians

Music

Mammatus

Thursday 6/12 @ 12 Galaxies

Intimidating in their wizard garb, Mammatus earned cred in freak-out psych circles opening for Acid Mothers Temple and playing music inspired... 

Citizen Fish w/ Shootin' Lucy

Music

Citizen Fish

Thursday 6/12 @ Bottom of the Hill

The Subhumans perfectly embodied the raw, inclusive vitality of early 1980s UK anarcho-punk. When the group broke up, most of the... 

Chris Carlsson: <em>Nowtopia</em>

Books: Reading

Chris Carlsson

Thursday 6/12 @ City Lights

One of the mavericks who helped to launch the Critical Mass bike demonstrations, Chris Carlsson is in a unique position to... 

Singer w/ Sic Alps

Music

Singer

Thursday 6/12 @ Rickshaw Stop

Tonight's a double bill for connoisseurs of damaged guitar rock. Battles beat Singer to the punch as the first post-rock supergroup,... 

<em>Trembling Before G-d</em> (2001)

Film: Documentary

Trembling Before G-d

Thursday 6/12 @ JCC East Bay

After debuting on the festival circuit in 2001, Sandi Simcha DuBowski's compassionate documentary about the lives of gay and lesbian Hasidic... 

Tony Joe White w/ Jesse DeNatale

Music

Tony Joe White

Thursday 6/12 @ Cafe du Nord

As with many American originals, Louisiana singer and swamp-rock king Tony Joe White is better known in Europe than in the... 

Ongoing Events

<em>ArtSpan: 30 Under 30</em>

Art

ArtSpan: 30 Under 30

Thursday 6/12 @ Varnish Fine Art

Bay Area Now 5 doesn't hit the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts until July, but ArtSpan has the jump on... 

<em>'Tis Pity She's a Whore</em>

Theatre

'Tis Pity She's a Whore

Thursday 6/12 @ American Conservatory Theater

Passions run hot, and blood flows freely in ACT's riveting production of John Ford's grim, rarely staged 17th-century revenge story. Michael... 

Special Event

Dykes on Bikes®

Thursday 6/12 @ GLBT Historical Society

Like chrome-and-leather-swathed valkyries rumbling down Market Street, Dykes on Bikes have long been the kickoff contingent of the San Francisco Pride... 

Amanda M. Smith: <em>Candy Garden and Sparkling Sabers</em>

Art

Amanda M. Smith: Candy Garden and Sparkling Sabers

Thursday 6/12 @ Jack Fischer Gallery

Little children run amok in Amanda M. Smith's series of exquisitely rendered ceramic reliefs. Set in a vivid world of flattened,... 

<em>Portals</em>: Jen Stark, Anna Fidler, and Jana Flynn

Art

Portals

Thursday 6/12 @ Johansson Projects

This trio of artists transforms one-dimensional planes of paper into doorways that lead to strange universes. Armed with an X-Acto knife,... 

<em>Birth of the Cool: California Art, Design and Culture at Mid-century</em>

Special Event

Birth of the Cool

Thursday 6/12 @ Oakland Museum of California

Fashion designer Christian Lacroix put it most directly: "...the history of cool in America is the history of African-American culture." That... 

<em>Alan B. Stone and the Senses of Place</em>

Art: Photography

Alan B. Stone and the Senses of Place

Thursday 6/12 @ SF Camerawork

Alan B. Stone's crisp black-and-white photography tells two tales of Montreal. One concerns the changes Stone's hometown underwent during mayor Jean... 

<em>After the Revolution: Contemporary Photography from Tehran and California</em>

Art: Photography

After the Revolution

Thursday 6/12 @ San Francisco Arts Commission Gallery

Between Azar Nafisi's memoir Reading Lolita in Tehran and Marjane Satrapi's graphic novel (and now animated feature) Persepolis, post-revolutionary autobiography has... 

<em>American Symbols: From Lady Liberty to the Stars and Stripes</em>

Art

American Symbols

Thursday 6/12 @ Museum of Craft and Folk Art

Recognized worldwide as a cultural symbol, the American flag is an object that elicits many personal and political emotions and interpretations.... 

<em>Louder, Faster: Punk in Performance</em>

Film: Documentary

Louder, Faster: Punk in Performance

Thursday 6/12 @ Pacific Film Archive Theater

Not much new can be said about punk. The gnarled, trans-Atlantic family tree running from Iggy Pop to Johnny Rotten, and... 

Bitter Pills: Michael Haneke Made-for-Television

Film

Bitter Pills

Thursday 6/12 @ Yerba Buena Center for the Arts

Michael Haneke's 2007 English-language remake of his notorious Funny Games (1997) hit US theaters with the unexpected wallop of a hard... 

Karla Wozniak: <em>Road Works</em>

Art

Karla Wozniak

Thursday 6/12 @ Gregory Lind Gallery

Karla Wozniak's exhibition of new paintings takes a shot at the endless string of strip malls and billboards that lines nearly... 

<em>The Way That We Rhyme: Women, Art & Politics</em>

Art

The Way That We Rhyme

Thursday 6/12 @ Yerba Buena Center for the Arts

American culture always seems poised to pronounce feminism down for the count, when it clearly still has plenty of fighting to... 

<em>Reclaiming Materials: Four Sculptors Recycle</em>

Art

Reclaiming Materials: Four Sculptors Recycle

Thursday 6/12 @ Sculpturesite Gallery

One person's trash is another person's treasure — or sculpture, as is the case at Sculpturesite's current exhibition of art works... 

Under 100: Exhibition, Sale, and Screen-Print Event

Special Event

Under 100

Thursday 6/12 @ Root Division

From the tony white walls of 49 Geary to the warehouse studios in Hunter's Point, SF lays claim to nearly every... 

<em>Hopeless and Otherwise</em>

Art

Hopeless and Otherwise

Thursday 6/12 @ Southern Exposure

With elections around the corner, many Americans are dreaming of change, but this group of artists remains skeptical, exploring moments of... 

Paul Sietsema: <em>New Work</em>

Art

Paul Sietsema

Thursday 6/12 @ SFMOMA

Los Angeles artist Paul Sietsema presents an exceptional body of recent drawings and films in SFMOMA's New Work series. Sietsema straddles... 

San Francisco Black Film Festival

Festival: Performing Arts

SF Black Film Festival

Thursday 6/12 @ Various locations

The San Francisco Black Film Festival premiered in 1998 as a one-day event. Ten years make quite a difference: this year's... 

Trevor Paglen: <em>The Other Night Sky</em>

Art: Photography

Trevor Paglen

Thursday 6/12 @ Berkeley Art Museum

Trevor Paglen photographs what we can't see — and what the government doesn't want us to see. Using a battery of... 

<em>365</em>

Art

365

Thursday 6/12 @ 111 Minna Gallery

  365 showcases 14 of the country's best contemporary abstract artists working in every style, from nouveau-surrealist to neo-expressionist. The visual... 

<em>Berlin Alexanderplatz </em>(1980)

Film

Berlin Alexanderplatz

Thursday 6/12 @ SFMOMA

As a New German Cinema progenitor obsessed with stylish reconstructions of his country's troubled 20th-century history, R.W. Fassbinder had a natural... 

Christian Marclay:<em> Stereo</em>

Art

Christian Marclay

Thursday 6/12 @ Fraenkel Gallery

Christian Marclay pioneered the turntable as a musical instrument in the late '70s, scratching out experimental sounds with vinyl found in... 

Peter Simon and Roger Steffens: <em>The Reggae Scrapbook</em>

Art: Photography

The Reggae Scrapbook

Thursday 6/12 @ Babylon Falling

The Reggae Scrapbook is a love letter from two eternal fanboys to Jamaica's best-known export. Drawing from their memories, publications, and... 

<em>Quarter Century: </em>Creativity Explored's 25th Anniversary

Art

Quarter Century

Thursday 6/12 @ Creativity Explored

Creativity Explored has long been an outlet for local developmentally challenged adults to express their artistic visions. Now celebrating its 25th... 

<em>A Complicated Dominion: Nature and New Political Narratives</em>

Art

A Complicated Dominion

Thursday 6/12 @ San Francisco Arts Commission Gallery

When 19th-century wildlife artist John James Audubon cataloged the birds of North America, he painted the creatures in pristine environments. With... 

Leigh Wells

Art

Leigh Wells

Thursday 6/12 @ Gallery 16

Illustrator Leigh Wells builds collages over discarded reproductions of of great masters. Her new exhibition at Gallery 16 delights in little... 

Ryan McGinley: <em>Spring and by Summer Fall</em>

Art: Photography

Ryan McGinley

Thursday 6/12 @ Ratio 3

Ryan McGinley's metier is youth. The often smiling, and more often nude men and women cavorting in his photos are like... 

<em>Within Two Hands: The Eye of the Collector</em>

Art

Within Two Hands: The Eye of the Collector

Thursday 6/12 @ San Francisco Museum of Craft+Design

Peter Voulkos founded the Arts Ceramics departments at both Los Angeles' Otis College of Art and Design and UC-Berkeley in the... 

Alicia McCarthy

Art

Alicia McCarthy

Thursday 6/12 @ Jack Hanley Gallery

Mission School alum Alicia McCarthy has been cleaning out her closet — at least that's the impression one gets from this... 

David M. Stein: <em>Improbable\Unlikely</em>

Art

Improbable\Unlikely

Thursday 6/12 @ Eleanor Harwood Gallery

David M. Stein's first solo show of improbable objects should provoke double takes, plus a chuckle or two. In The Unlikely... 

Amy Stein: <em>New American Fables</em>

Art: Photography

New American Fables

Thursday 6/12 @ Robert Koch Gallery

Amy Stein's twisted fables are a far cry from anything Aesop ever wrote. Unlike the tales of ancient storybooks, Stein's photographic... 

Suzanne Husky: <em>You Make Me Make You</em>

Art

Suzanne Husky

Thursday 6/12 @ Triple Base

Suzanne Husky's installations resemble playrooms where the dolls have broken loose. But the miniature worlds she creates, rife with greed and... 

William T. Wiley: <em>Punball: Only One Earth</em>

Art

William T. Wiley

Thursday 6/12 @ Electric Works

Pinball machines have largely been relegated to the scrap yard of nostalgia, but that hasn't stopped William T. Wiley from resurrecting... 

Tim Lee

Art

Tim Lee

Thursday 6/12 @ CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts

Although it's tempting to dismiss Vancouver-based artist Tim Lee's use of comedy-as-conceptual-device as lacking in depth or social concern, to mistake... 

Another Hole in the Head

Festival: Performing Arts

Another Hole in the Head

Thursday 6/12 @ Roxie Theater

Now in its fifth year, the SF Indie's Another Hole in the Head Festival features two weeks of sci-fi and horror... 

Adam5100: <em>The Heart vs the Mind in a Fight to the Finish</em>

Art

Adam5100

Thursday 6/12 @ Rowan Morrison

The graffiti artist Adam5100 may have started out bombing derelict sections of Albuquerque, New Mexico, but he's brushed up on his... 

<em>The Group</em>

Theatre

The Group

Thursday 6/12 @ Climate Theater

From Dale Carnegie to Norman Vincent Peale (who coined the phrase "the power of positive thinking") to the current worldwide success... 

<em>Chicago 10</em>

Film

Chicago 10

Thursday 6/12 @ Red Vic

Abbie Hoffman stated the obvious when he titled his autobiography Soon to Be a Major Motion Picture. The volatile, vocal (and... 

Sarah Wagner: <em>Nuclear Family</em>

Art

Sarah Wagner

Thursday 6/12 @ Patricia Sweetow Gallery

Sarah Wagner turns out delicate textile sculptures that resemble tangled roots and vines. Her faux-plant shapes sprout from the gallery's cement... 

<em>Art & Artifice: 75 Years of Design at San Francisco Ballet</em>

Special Event

Art & Artifice

Thursday 6/12 @ Museum of Performance & Design

Emerging with a rejuvenated image and collection in March, the Museum of Performance & Design mounts an impressive exhibit chronicling the... 

<em>2nd Skin: Imaginative Designs in Digital & Analog Clothing</em>

Special Event

2nd Skin

Thursday 6/12 @ Exploratorium

With a futuristic, tongue-in-cheek vision, the artists featured in the 2nd Skin fashion exhibit challenge the standard notions of practical clothing.... 

Sean Talley

Art

Sean Talley

Thursday 6/12 @ Jancar Jones Gallery

Sean Talley's new series of silkscreen prints at Jancar Jones Gallery contains understated, insightful contrasts. Richly colored, sparse populations of shapes... 

Christopher Brown<em> </em>and Clare Kirkconnell

Art

Christopher Brown and Clare Kirkconnell

Thursday 6/12 @ John Berggruen Gallery

Christopher Brown and Clare Kirkconnell's concurrent exhibitions at John Berggruen Gallery have sympathetic interests: each artist makes work that quietly reinterprets... 

<em>Bruce Conner: Mabuhay Gardens</em>

Art: Photography

Bruce Conner: Mabuhay Gardens

Thursday 6/12 @ Berkeley Art Museum

After he broke through as an underground filmmaker in 1958, Bruce Conner kept a close eye on the cultural zeitgeist. He... 

<em>The Rape of the Sabine Women</em>

Art

The Rape of the Sabine Women

Thursday 6/12 @ SFMOMA

Eve Sussman and the Rufus Corporation's epic video-opera, The Rape of the Sabine Women, is a sprawling, beguiling exploration of classical...